I usually don’t read the advice columns but I’ve done some work for an organization called Family Life First and this item appeared on their discussion list today. Dear Abby: Parents, let your kids be kids
11 yr. old: Monday: advanced math school; Tuesday: ice skating; Wednesday: advanced math school; Thursday: gymnastics; Friday: piano lessons; Saturday: soccer; Sunday: math homework.
Is this overscheduling of kids a baby-boomer parent phenomenon, or just more broadly a cultural trend? I’m not sure, but I’m damn glad I missed it as a kid and that our own kids never got caught up in it. They all attended a variety of alternative schools growing up where this kind of overachieving mentality wasn’t very prevalent. But then, maybe they feel they missed out. Guess I should check with them.
And another question: does this over-scheduling of our kids lead to a higher undergraduate suicide rate among the high-achieving students, described in this article about Elizabeth Shin, the student at MIT whose parents are suing the school for a gazillion bucks after she committed suicide?